8 years of suffering under Barack Obama

Great post.

Teri Carter's Library

Photo credit: The Associated Press

The sentence I hear most from well-meaning, conservative friends since President Trump’s election is this: “We suffered 8 years under Barack Obama.”

Fair enough. Let’s take a look.

The day Obama took office, the Dow closed at 7,949 points. Eight years later, the Dow had almost tripled.

General Motors and Chrysler were on the brink of bankruptcy, with Ford not far behind, and their failure, along with their supply chains, would have meant the loss of millions of jobs. Obama pushed through a controversial, $8o billion bailout to save the car industry. The U.S. car industry survived, started making money again, and the entire $80 billion was paid back, with interest.

While we remain vulnerable to lone-wolf attacks, no foreign terrorist organization has successfully executed a mass attack here since 9/11.

Obama ordered the raid that killed Osama Bin Laden.

He drew down the number…

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Hatchet Island by Paul Doiron

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This is one of the best series going today. Mike Bowditch, the main character in the 13 books is a Maine Game Warden with a wonderful personality and a great group of friends and mentors.

The books are written in such a way that they will appeal to both men and women, they aren’t filled with gore and lots of what some find ‘offensive’ language.

There is plenty of tension in them, some romance, and of course humor all balanced to make the reading exceptionally pleasant. I read these usually in one sitting because I just can’t put them down.

Hatchet Island was no exception. I had to know what happened next and I kept reading from cover to cover. Each time I think this is the best one yet, but Mr. Doiron keeps on surprising me. I’m not complaining mind you, it takes a good author to do this.

Though it is not necessary to read the books in order I have and if you can I suggest you do also.

As with any book series, you’ll understand not only Mike and his growth within the Warden Service, his relationship with Charlie and Ora, and other people in his life better but also what motivates the decisions he makes in the book you are reading.

In my career in Law Enforcement, I was fortunate to work with the ME Wardens Service on numerous occasions.

The author does a wonderful service to the members of that organization as well as other Law Enforcement communities, EMTs, and Life Flight members by portraying them as I always found them to be, highly trained and devoted professionals doing their jobs to the absolute best of their abilities.

I have read all the books in this series and will happily continue to do so.

If you happen to be a fan of the Tracy Crosswhite series by (Author) Robert Dugoni I predict you’ll love these books just as much. And vice versa.

Thanks for your time.



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Dear Little Girls

Powerful, truthful and so well spoken. Thank you so much, Mary.

A Writer's Life

I’ve been giving this a lot of thought, and I have something to say to all the little girls, whether cis, non-binary, trans (as well as trans men), ace, gay, of all races, orientations, and genders. I hope you all will forgive me if for the sake of brevity and simplicity, I refer to all in this post as little girls. I see you all, acknowledge your diversity, and support your right to discover yourselves and flourish as yourselves. You still have time to grow into a world which will hopefully correct its wrongs and move forward in inclusivity and equality, and until then, there are some things I want you to remember.

Dear Little Girls:

Recently, the Supreme Court made a decision that overturned a ruling which guaranteed your right to freedom to make decisions about your body and your health. It is, I fear, one of the first…

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Standing on a Corner, Not in Winslow, Arizona

northierthanthou

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Saving Waverly Woods: A Call-out To The Community

Christine Whelan

Steps in the middle of the woods lead to foundations of the Lunch Counter or Railway Station. The trees are now targeted with orange paint.

(as published in the Fort Erie Observer – September 2, 2021)

A neighbourhood garage sale was held Saturday, August 21, raising money to help with the legal challenges involved in standing up against the development that has been proposed to infiltrate the historical and environmental treasure that is Waverly Woods.

A large tree surrounded by edging of a flower garden that was built around it in 1910.

On April 25, 2022, after four years of assessment and protest, an in-depth hearing will take place that will decide the fate of Waverly Woods.

As found on the Town of Fort Erie website, “An application has been received for a Combined Official Plan and Zoning By-law Amendment and Draft Plan of Subdivision for the property south of…

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Invasion of the Splatter Westerns (and the inspiration for Red Station)

This, On Purpose

Last year,Death’s Head Press’ co-founder, Patrick C. Harrison III, did something pretty amazing. He reached out to a number of authors to write standalone novellas and novels in a genre he coined as “splatter westerns.” A splatter western is a mad hybrid of splatterpunk horror and western genres. In other words, the western would have extreme horror elements with a hearty dollop of pulp to top it off. I marvel at Patrick for coming up with it, and I think he ought to be credited for the core concept of it. His story that inspired its creation is pretty intense, one that illustrates that sometimes, art imitates life and vice versa (you can read his story here).

Anyway, my novella, Red Station, is book #7 in the series, and it came out just last month. Since they’re all standalone stories, readers can start with whichever one…

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THE DOGON INITIATIVE (The Deniables, #1) – the countdown continues

Am looking forward to this with great anticipation. I have all the books by these authors and I’m impressed by not only their writing but by the exacting research they do to get the facts correct. To me, that is an absolute necessity for any book I am going to recommend to anyone else. This is going to be a book I’m going to enjoy while I shut the world out and take time to savor. If you have yet to experience the exciting books from these writers, join the rest of us and jump right in.

Morcan Books & Films

The countdown continues for the upcoming release of the action-thriller novel THE DOGON INITIATIVE, book one in The Deniables Series, by Lance and James Morcan, authors of The Orphan Trilogy, White Spirit  and Into the Americas.

Coming soon… another Morcan novel for thriller fans.

In THE DOGON INITIATIVE  the CIA hires foreign mercenaries to right some of the injustices happening around the world. They’re deniable assets, which means no-one’s coming to help if a mission goes pear-shaped. They’re known as the Deniables.

In the opening chapters, the CIA’s Cape Town asset, a woman known as the Handler, explains to the Deniables why they’re been hired. Here’s a brief excerpt:

“My client is especially concerned about events occurring in far flung corners of the globe. Events that are not only against their best interests, but against the interests of Mankind. Events that go unchallenged and…

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The Swivel Chair

I have read a lot about this era, and the many troubles with the LAPD, but nothing quite as good as this.

Thank you for sharing, and I’ll be looking forward to the publication of the book very much.

Guardians of Angels: A History of the Los Angeles Police Department

When I heard earlier last month that Mayor Eric Garcetti fulfilled one of his most important duties by selecting Michel Moore, a 36-year veteran, to be the next chief of the Los Angeles Police Department, it reminded me of a time in LAPD’s history when the transition was not nearly as tidy. Since 1969, nearly a half-century, LAPD has had only six chiefs of police. This is quite an accomplishment, especially when compared to one six-year span during the 1920s, when LAPD went through eight chiefs in bewildering succession. To better understand where the department is now, and the level of professionalism having been accomplished, one must look at what was overcome to make that steep transition to today.

During the 1920s, LAPD officers were more concerned with keeping their jobs than chasing down vice offenders.

America in the 1920s was a land of prosperity. The new heroes were movie…

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The Death Row Book Club

Longreads

Anthony Ray Hinton | The Sun Does Shine | St. Martin’s Press | March 2018 | 14 minutes (3,745 words)

The books were a big deal. Nobody had books on death row. They had never been allowed, and it was like someone had brought in contraband. Only six guys were allowed to join me in book club, but every guy on the row was now allowed to have two books besides the Bible in his cell. Some didn’t care, but others made calls out to family and friends to let them know they could send in a book or two. It had to be a brand-new book and be sent directly from a bookstore to the prison. It was like a whole new world opened up, and guys started talking about what books they liked. Some guys didn’t know how to read, others were real slow, almost childlike, and had never…

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December 2017 Audiobook Giveaway of Mad Hatters and March Hares

Tantor Media

Read by C.S.E Cooney and Eric Michael Summerer

From master anthologist Ellen Datlow comes an all-original of weird tales inspired by the strangeness of Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There. Read the full description.

How to Win This MP3-CD Audiobook

1. Send an email to contests@tantor.com
2. Put the word “hatter” in the subject line.

Entries must be received by Dec 31, 2017. Open to US only.

________________________

Congratulations to William Arnold, winner of last month’s giveaway of Around the World in Eighty Wines. Thank you to all that entered.

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